San Mateo County firefighters and California Highway Patrol personnel investigate the scene of a limousine fire on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge in Foster City, Calif., on May 4. / Jane Tyska, AP

by Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY

by Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY

A bride-to-be was among five women killed when a limousine burst into flames while traveling to her bachelorette party on a major bridge in the San Francisco area.

The five killed were pronounced dead at the scene of the fire late Saturday night on the westbound San Mateo-Hayward bridge in Foster City, the California Highway Patrol said. Their names have not been released pending identification and notification of family.

Rosita Guardiano told the San Francisco Chronicle that the woman for whom the bachelorette party was being thrown was to be married next month. Guardiano said her daughter was one of the survivors.

A coroner investigating the deaths says the badly-burned bodies were found near the partition that separates the driver from the passengers, suggesting that the women tried to use the window opening to escape the fast-moving fire that began in the back of the limo.

Authorities will need dental records to confirm their identities, according to MercuryNews.com. Their names likely won't be released until Monday at the earliest.

Four other women passengers were injured and taken to two medical centers to be treated for smoke inhalation and burns. They managed to get out of the vehicle after it came to a stop on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, California Highway Patrol officer Art Montiel told The Associated Press.

The injured, all from California, are Mary Guardiano, 42, of Alameda; Nelia Arrellano, 36, of Oakland; Amalia Loyola, 48, of San Leandro; and Jasmine Desguia, 34, of San Jose.

The Associated Press reported that Desguia and Loyola were listed in critical condition, according to Joy Alexiou, a spokeswoman for Valley Medical Center. The condition of Arrellano, who was taken to another hospital, was not known.

The driver of the vehicle, Orville Brown, 46, of San Jose, escaped uninjured.

Limo Stop was the 1999 Lincoln Towncar operator, MercuryNews.com reports. Quoting San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault, the news site says the limo picked up the women in Oakland and was taking them to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Foster City for a bachelorette party.

The blaze occurred around 10 p.m. Saturday on the bridge, which connects San Mateo and Alameda counties about 20 miles southeast of San Francisco.

Five occupants became trapped, while the four others who suffered injuries managed to get out after the vehicle came to a stop on the bridge, the patrol said.

The patrol said smoke started coming out of the rear of the limo, and the driver pulled over as the vehicle quickly became engulfed in flames. Officers were trying to determine the cause of the blaze, which wasn't the result of an accident.